The New York Times ran a story this morning about classroom disruptions from COVID and how they have adversely impacted students. One quote that jumped out stated, “There is now a consensus that children learned much less than usual – and that their mental health suffered – when schools were shut for months in 2020 and 2021. [Disruptions also created] problems for parents, especially working-class parents who cannot do their jobs remotely as easily as many white-collar professionals can.”
The developers of the widely used MAP Growth assessments recently released a report that corroborates these findings. In a brief released in December 2021 from Northwest Evaluation Association’s (NWEA) Center for School & Student Progress, researchers summarized:
- Achievement was lower for all student groups in fall 2021; however, historically marginalized students and students in high-poverty schools were disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades we studied.
- Student gains across the pandemic (from fall 2019 to fall 2021) lagged norms for pre- pandemic growth, especially in math.
Many educators I spoke with say their schools are also struggling with unusual student behaviors as they returned to full-time instruction this year. An education-based newsletter, Chalkbeat, published a story in September 2021 that captured some of the issues, “Schools across the country say they’re seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors. Some are obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts, or running out of classrooms. Others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their head down and refusing to talk.”
Lower achievement and lagging gains are very real. Unusual student behaviors are predictable fallout from the stress, anxiety, isolation, and general suffering our families, students, and teachers suffered over the last two years. The two are clearly related. Higher functioning skills like problem solving, behavior regulation, and critical thinking cannot be accessed or practiced if one is dealing with high anxiety and stress. You can’t do long division if you are being chased by a bear! Isolation, uncertainty, fear combine to push us into a flight-or-fight response.
Thankfully, as our academic team and counselors began planning for this school year, they had the foresight to bring in a psychologist with expertise in enhancing a school’s “ability to support the social and emotional needs of their students. Specifically… helping schools build student resilience within a trauma-responsive framework.” Doug Bolton came in before school started, again in the middle of the first semester, and again just this last month to work with our faculty.
Essentially, the way to combat trauma and the survival-type responses it elicits is to find ways to provide a stable, safe, and supportive environment – an environment where higher-level cognitive functions can take place. An indispensable element needed to create such an environment is through respectful, caring, trust-based relationships. I believe it is difficult, if not impossible, to nurture relationships of this kind in a remote or virtual environment.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, CRSM went fully remote for the remainder of the school year. We held full-time, in-person summer school and then, because of distancing requirements, went to a hybrid model for the 2020-21 year where students could attend in-person classes two days/per week. Many other schools remained fully remote. Throughout last year, we held regular volunteer opportunities to distribute food in our parking lot and held vaccine clinics when shots were scarce. The events created opportunities for faculty, staff, and students to come together in a meaningful way to contribute positively to the greater community. We held Summer School again full-time and in-person and have been full-time, in-person for the entire year this year.
By doing everything possible to maximize in-person interactions while still following the science, CRSM was really focused on creating opportunities to keep and build relationships with our students. As COVID cases and deaths wane in the U.S., CRSM seems better positioned to rebound than most other schools.
Our academic results for the first semester of the 2021-2022 school year certainly point to a huge rebound. They are simply astounding. Here are just a few examples:
- The most recent academic ineligibility list came out today and we have ten students below a 2.0 GPA – that’s 10 students for all four grades: 10 out of 400 (2.5%)!
- 81% of all CRSM students have a 3.0 GPA or higher and
- 97 students (over 24%) have a 4.0 GPA.
These statistics are better than any of CRSM’s pre-COVID accomplishments! Myriad factors contribute to this level of success. With few exceptions, our students come from close families and hard-working parents. CRSM teacher retention has been very strong throughout the pandemic. Our teachers have made herculean efforts to engage and support their students. Our counselors have been in overdrive checking in on students. The Corporate Work Study Team shifted away from getting more paying jobs and ensured that every student had a real job with 75% of the students working in-person at their job sites.
So far, this school year has been marked by joy and camaraderie – feelings that only come from a happy, productive school culture. Our teachers’ deliberate and intentional focus on relationships is a big part of what is making a difference. Here are three quotes from Doug Bolton’s excellent presentations that could easily describe CRSM today:
“Brains grow best in the context of supportive relationships.”
Louis Cozolino (professor of psychology at Pepperdine University)
“It is the experience of loving and being loved that most closely predicts how we
react to the hardships of life. Human attachments are the ultimate source of resilience.”
George Vaillant (Director of Research for the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital)
“How else, except through connection, can people be reminded of their goodness.”
Father Greg Boyle (founder of Homeboy Industries)
We are better when we are together. ¡Viva Cristo Rey!